Sixteen weeks and 26.2 miles

The day has finally come for the Outer Banks Marathon. An event that we have been training for what seems like an eternity. Its hard to believe that its over... well at least this one. There were friends of ours running several of the races this weekend. A few of them ran multiple races. But what's a 8K one day followed by a Half Marathon the next? My hats off to them! Fayetteville Running Club and the Fort Bragg Chapter of Team RWB were in full force. We did run into another Team RWB runner from the DC Chapter.

The morning air was a bit chilly but at only 48 degrees is seemed worse than it was. Maybe it was the cool breeze coming off the ocean. Either way the skies were clear and we were ready to run. The course started off in Kitty Hawk, NC heading south along the Inter-Coastal Waterway side of the Outer Banks. The locals were out in full force cheering us on as we ran through their neighborhoods. From there we ran down to Kill Devil Hills, NC and around the Wright Brothers Memorial. So after that the adventure began. We found ourselves running on a dirt trail through the woods for about the next 3 miles or so. It felt like an eternity. I'm not sure if it was the hills and dirt or that I just wasn't expecting it. Either way we made it and found ourselves back on pavement.

The rest of the course was a mix of residential and open road. Other than the miles and the wind the next challenge would be the "Bridge". To make matters worse the bridge is strategically located at mile 22 of the course.

If I hadn't been so tired from the previous miles it really wouldn't be that big of a deal. Between the hills several of the races in Fayetteville and the hills in our Wednesday night run I would like to think I don't do to bad on hills. I feel no shame is saying I walked a step or two on that bridge. Once the decent from the bridge was done it was only a few short miles to the finish. Kelly made it to the finish at a smoking 4:01:47!!!

I'm glad we had some friends there to capture forever the look on her face. I know I am proud of her. I came in about 21 minutes later at 4:22:10. My only small complaint is that according to Garmin the course was a quarter mile long. It's hard to believe that its actually over. We have spent the good part of the last four months training and preparing for this day. Our first Marathon is in the bag. Guess it's time to start planning the next adventure. Maybe a Ultra Marathon?!?! After all it's all about the miles!!!!!

We have arrived in OBX!

After a short four hour drive from Raeford to Kill Devil Hill, NC we are here and all checked in at the hotel. This is one day that being a Gold Hilton Honors member came in handy. They upgraded our room to one that faces the ocean.

We still have two days till the race so there is plenty of time to cause some trouble. Tomorrow we are supposed to run two miles. This will be our last training run before the big race. We drove part of the course today on the way to packet pick-up.

The Expo for the race was full of different vendors just waiting to share their goods with us for a slight fee. There was one running shoe store that had some killer prices. We picked up a pair of Merrell Running shoes for Kelly for over 50% off. Now starts the waiting game... I so ready to get this going!!!!

Time to taper!

First off I'd like to give a big congratulations to all the runners who completed their first Half and Full Marathons over the weekend. As fall is finally in full swing so is the race season. Kelly and I had the privilege to help at the City of Oaks Marathon in Raleigh, NC yesterday. Team Red, White, and Blue were out in full force manning one of the water stations on the course. I'm sure Kelly was more helpful than me since she handed out water and I just offered a few words of encouragement. FRC was also in full force out on the course both with runners and supporters. It was inspiring to see they people give everything to push their bodies across that finish line. I can only hope that next week my first Marathon is more on the inspiring side and less on the going to make it on YouTube video of funny marathon finishes side.

Today starts week 16 of our journey to OBX. Last night we ran 8 miles in the neighborhood to finish off the previous 15 weeks of training. This week we have three shorter distance run before we tackle the training run of all training runs. Well that is until I get a wild hair somewhere and attempt a longer distance. I'm sure after next Sunday, Kelly and I will have plenty of lessons learned and things we would do differently next time. As of right now I hope I can take full advantage of this taper and physically and mentally prepare for OBX.

Im back!!!

I want to start off by first saying a huge "Thank you!" to my wife Kelly. It has been 18 days since my surgery and she hasn't killed me. For the first two weeks after surgery she did everything from help me shower to tie my shoes. Today was actually the first day since the surgery that I did both on my own. But lets not get a head of ourselves.

I woke up from surgery with a big surprise of being in a cast and being told by my surgeon, "It was worse than we thought". To add insult to injury, I was also told I couldn't run for at least two weeks. I will paraphrase the next two weeks... no running, shower with a trash bag over my arm, can't seem to figure out how to be left handed, go to work in slipper because they don't haves laces... did I miss anything? I finally had my post op appointment on Tuesday to find out just how bad it was. I didn't just tear the ligament...it was a complete rupture that had to be repaired. I also found out that I had a good deal of arthritis that had to be cleaned up. So instead of a cute little incision that I was expecting... I got to see this when the nurse cut off the cast.

The good new is that The doc said I could start running as long as I gave it another 24 hours and kept my new brace on all the time. This new brace is a two piece plastic form fitted contraption that keeps me from attempting to do anything dumb with my right hand. Kelly came up with the idea of wearing a warm up sleeve on under the brace to keep the plastic from rubbing my skin. This also gave me a washable option since they just gave me something that resembled a mix between an old sock and an ace wrap. Not something that was going to hold up to daily running and washing. Internet shopping and overnight delivery brought me two pairs of warm up sleeves. Yes, that's four sleeves with thumb holes and moisture wicking goodness.

Tonight was my second run since my surgery and it feels so good to be back out pounding pavement. My first run back was a three mile run immediately followed by a five mile cool down on Wednesday night (I was told three miles was a good distance  for my first run back). I could feel each and every bit of those 8 miles the next day. I never claimed to be the brightest bulb on the tree. Tonight I ran five miles around the neighborhood. Kelly is out running the Tuna 200 relay with our Running Club Team so I had to figure out how to tie my shoes all by myself. Right now Kelly is running her second leg of the relay which is 9 miles long.

Now I have to figure out how to get back on track for OBX. I already missed one of the two 20 mile runs in our training program. The last one is supposed to be this Sunday. Do I suck it up and go for the 20 even though I had a two week hiatus from running? Do I not and start the plans tapering next week? Either way I need to be prepared to run 26.2 miles on November 10th... possibly with my brace on.   

About to be left handed for awhile!

Today is the last day in the ninth month of the this year. Today is also a Monday, the first day of week thirteen of our training plan. What I hadn't planned on was that today is the day I will be having my little repair done to my wrist. Here in about ten minutes we will begin our journey to the surgery center where hopefully magic will happen. Although I can't wait to get healed up and get back in the gym, I am just hoping this doesn't have to much of an impact on my training. As of the last time I met with the surgeon, she said I could still train for the Marathon as long as I took a week off after the surgery. Hopefully after getting "opened" up she will feel the same way.

My attempt at being left handed should be quite comical.. well for Kelly at least. I bet typing with one hand will nice and slow. I really can't think of one thing that I use just my left hand for... its either my right or both.

Well Kelly just said we need to get going. So here it goes...

Just one of the side effects

So it's been about 11 months now since me and Kelly began running as a "hobby". Ok, so it had more to do with one of the side effects we suffered from quitting smoking... weight gain. Either way we have put in a few miles since then and seen some pleasant side effects. Another thing we have been trying to do is eat a little healthier. Neither of us have any plans to eat bark and leaves, but we would like to think we have been improving our daily diet. A big step was trying to cut out as much processed sugar out of our diet. We also try and make as much of our meals from scratch as possible. This always is a challenge with both of our jobs and our training schedule. I figure as long as little by little we improve our intake and continue to increase our energy expenditure something amazing will come of it all... right?

This brings us to today's little adventure. Friday after work we met up at the South Post Commissary on Fort Bragg to do our weekly grocery shopping. With fall finally approaching I saw one of my favorite seasonal beverages... Apple Cider!!! I grabbed a gallon jug of the fruity swill but before I set it in the cart I took a glance at the ingredients to make sure there wasn't any added sugar. Apples... check... Potassium sorbate... what? Sodium benzoate... Huh? For some reason now I needed to know what magically ingredients were added to cider that I so craved. Oh, just some preservatives that are commonly added to beverages and other food items. That can't be so bad.. or can it? I should have stopped reading there and remained happily ignorant. But no one ever said I was the brightest bulb on the tree (yes I know it isn't Christmas time yet). 

Sodium benzoate found in beverages are at levels that are below those considered dangerous for consumption. Oh that makes me feel so much better. Solid potassium sorbate (which is rarely encountered in food) is a skin, eye and respiratory irritant. But what about the form found in Cider? Now I'm sure that neither of these preservatives will cause me to grow a third nipple or catch the gout, but it does make you think a little about all the added goodies that the experts put in our food.

Well Today I was going to do something about it. Today is the day I was going to give Apple Cider its freedom from all that is unnatural. I decided to attempt to make my own apple cider. My google machine hummed to life and soon I had all the knowledge I needed to create my autumn swill.

With the help of Kelly's high powered food preparing device I was able to finish the first step of my project. I used a three bags of different types of Apples and began to grind away. Already this was beginning to be a pricey endeavor. This was about nine dollars of some of the commissary's best apples. Soon I had a large bowl full of what looked like soupy apples sauce. Now I began to strain away the sweet juices that would make at least a gallon of cider (or so I thought). After two different sized strainers I was finished...

 

 

 

 

What?!?!?! is that all my labors and nine bucks of apples made? I will say that it tasted so much better than what I could have purchased in the store. I also have a huge bowl of home made apple sauce that is just one of the side effects.

    

Who put that wall there?!?!?!

So it's been a while but I'm back. Once again I was out and about traveling on business last week. Another week spent finding new and exciting locations near my hotel to run. But that's not really what we are here for, now are we? This last week the mileage did increase yet again. We ran 5 miles on Tuesday, 8 on Wednesday, 5 on Thursday, 8 on Saturday and then 18 miles on Sunday. Sunday was a first for a couple things for me. First off it was the longest I've run so far in my short existence on earth and also the first time I hit a major...

Sunday mornings run started off great. The weather actually was playing along for once. It was cool, overcast, with a very slight mist in the air... Perfect for getting in some miles. Off we went... then at around the 12 mile mark there it was...ARGH!!!! For the next six miles I questioned many things to include everything from what was I doing to what did I do differently this last week. Was I getting enough sleep, enough water, enough fuel... was I increasing the mileage to fast???? Why was I able to run 17 miles last Sunday strong and still feel like I could have run farther? Or was it a combination of all of it? The remainder of the day I sat around sore without much motivation to do much.

The Monday morning came and to my surprise... I wasn't near as sore as I thought I would be. What evil voodoo had befallen me to reek such havoc on my training? So after a little thought and reflection this is what I've come up with.

1. It happens. It's not a common thing but there is just going to be some runs that suck... try to prevent it, but deal with it when it does happen.

2. What you do, don't do, eat, don't eat, drink, or don't drink will effect your performance either positively or negatively. Some of this will be in our control and some won't.

3. Everyone of us will hit a wall at some point... it's what we do after that abrupt collision that is important.

I have spent the majority of my adult life involved is some sort of physical fitness activity. I have never really experienced the physical and emotional event like I did for those last 6 miles. But I will say that I am glad I got a taste of it on a training run and not during a race. I am sure there might be a couple other walls in my future and hopefully I will be a little more prepared to not only try and prevent it but also to be able to push through it when it does happen.